Bad Apple
by blakes8th
Summary: How do you come to terms with a family revalation? With help, that's how.


Bad Apple

Disclaimer; New tricks isn't mine. If it was the episodes would be much longer!

Rating; K+, there may be a couple of naughty words.

Episode; Coudn't organise one. I wanted to do a story which explained how after the revelations about her Dad, Sandra seems perfectly at ease at the end of the episode.

"Sandra, can I have a word?" DSI Sandra Pullman looked up from her desk, straight into the face of her superior officer. DAC Robert Strickland stood just inside her office door, it annoyed her slightly that he hadn't knocked but she noticed that he had 'that' look on his face which generally meant that somebody was in for a bollocking, normally her. She looked back down at her desk, wondering what had upset him now, she shuffled the papers in front of her, bracing herself for what was to come. She took a breath and smiled up at him.

"Of course sir, how can I help?" She said cheerfully.

"It has been brought to my attention that you've been to interview Bob MacAdam." He entered the office and closed the door behind him. Sandra frowned, this was going to be bad, he only ever closed the door if something had really got up his nose. She got even more worried as he closed the blinds. He turned back to her and fixed his gaze on her, his normally soft blue eyes burned through her with an intensity which made her blink, he folded his arms across his chest, waiting for her to answer.

"Yes sir. It's the Falspar case, I just needed some background." She tried to sound relaxed, but her stomach was doing flip-flops.

"Really?" The tone of his voice showed her that he didn't believe a word of it. "Three times? That's an awful lot of background considering MacAdam barely looked at this case at the time." There was a warning in his eyes.

"Well, he told me other things. I thought it might be pertinant to the other cases of MacAdam's which are being looked into, there may have been information I could have passed on to them." She hoped her bluff would pacify him, one look at his face killed that hope.

"Sandra. It took me two years to gather the evidence to convict MacAdam, I had to watch that piece of slime make a mockery of the police force, feeding him enough rope so he could hang himself. I know that investigating fellow officers can make you unpopular, but since no-one particularly likes me around here anyway, I plan on finding all of MacAdam's cronies, and will prosecute any officer I find to be corrupt. That is why I have the guards at the prison reporting any visits that MacAdam has to me, and if possible the subject of those visits."

"The guards were listening in on our conversation! That is out of order sir!" Sandra was furious. Strickland showed no sign of remorse.

"Bob MacAdam has no right to a private conversation, especially with another police officer. Your first visit was an official interview, as was the second, as such the guards had to be present. Your third visit however was made during visiting time. Any police officer paying a private visit to MacAdam will be under intense scrutiny. Be glad the guard in question contacted me, not the task force I have set up to look into MacAdam's contacts." He hadn't taken his eyes off her the whole time he had been speaking. "Are you going to tell me what was so interesting."

She was seething now, he was speaking to her like a teacher giving out a detention.

"It was nothing of importance. Nothing 'your task force' would be interested in." She bit back. She noticed him chew slightly on his bottom lip, a habit she had noticed he had when he was thinking. He unfolded his hands and put them in his trouser pockets, the change in his stance indecated to her that the tone of this confrontation was about to become less official. He was silent for a moment, then when he did start to speak, Sandra almost had to strain to hear him.

"Sandra. Bob MacAdam reminds me of a king cobra. He lays curled up in the shade, almost invisible until you disturb him, then he strikes. When he opens his mouth he spits nothing but venom. When he was arrested he tried to implicate all sorts of people in his crimes. He even tried to set me up, he told the questioning officers that I had been visiting a high class prostitute. Fortunately for me, the dates he gave co-incided with my fling with Christy. Even though I meant nothing to her, she did confirm that we were 'otherwise engaged' on the evenings he gave them, which showed him up as the liar he is. You can't believe a word that he says." She looked down at her hands which at that moment seemed to be trying to strangle her pen, she couldn't get the image of MacAdam as a snake out of her mind. He had seen her weakness, and she had walked straight into his trap. She jumped slightly as a hand brushed her shoulder. She looked up, she hadn't noticed him approach.

"Don't believe a word of what he told you. If you need to seek the truth about your Father, then ask the people who knew him. Track down others he served with. Whatever you do, don't listen to the shit he fed you." She was slightly shocked, even in his angriest moments, she had never heard him swear. "Your Father may not have been a saint, and he made some mistakes. That is on record. But don't base your perception of who he was on a bastard like MacAdam." She looked up at his face, his eyes had softened. She couldn't hold back any more, she had to tell someone what she had found out.

"He had an affair. It was with a prostatute called Deirdre Mortimer. He was going to help her get out of the business, make a new life for her and her son. Her pimp killed her, and was choking the little boy when my Dad found them, he killed the man, Ian Randall." She stopped, the words drying up in her throat. She couldn't stop the tears falling down her cheeks, she scrubbed them away angrily, the last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of her boss. "That's why he was being investigated. That's why he killed himself." She felt him perch on the desk next to her, his hand still resting on her, he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze of encouragement.

"Go on." He prompted her.

"MacAdam said he was known as 'pants down Pullman', and that he liked sleeping with prostitutes." She couldn't keep the tears back now,they rolled freely down her face. "I'm scared now that whatever I find out will hurt even more. I mean, what if he did love her and was going to help her and her son find a new life, maybe he meant to leave me and Mum behind. What if..." She stopped as he crouched down next to her, turning her face so he could look into her eyes, he wiped away her tears with his thumbs.

"What if he just wanted to help someone. What if he did have a fling. It doesn't matter. Parents make mistakes, My mistake was to believe that giving my wife everything she wanted was more important that spending time with my kids. If I had worked less and said no to her more often, I may have been divorced quicker, but at least my children would still be speaking to me. Your Father was human, we will never know what his plans were, but trying to guess will just drive you mad. MacAdam is poison, he takes delight in twisting the truth and hurting people. He's got inside your head, please stay away from him. Please." The last word was uttered with such desperation she couldn't help asking.

"Why? Why do you care about what I think about my Father?" She whispered. He smiled gently.

"I care about you. In the last year I have lost everything that was special to me. My marriage failed because I worked too hard, my children think I care more about the job than them, and my little crusade against corruption has cost me the trust of most of my colleagues. Coppers don't rat on coppers and all that. This little unit is the only place I feel I don't have to watch my back, even though I know none of you really like me, and I know you don't respect me, but no matter what happens upstairs, I know there will always be a cup of coffee available for me here. You are the shining light of this unit and I won't allow MacAdam's venom to destroy it. ." He brushed the hair away from her face. "Our parents guide us, they take care of us before we can take care of ourselves, at least, most do. What we become is up to us. You are more than the daughter of Gordon Pullman. You are Detective Superintendant Sandra Pullman, who can lead a group of the most stuborn and contrary retired detectives the force has ever known with a success that most of your peers can only dream of. Whatever your Father did, I know he would be proud as hell of you." He took a hankerchief out of his pocket and gave it to her, "We had better get you cleaned up. If that lot think I made you cry, I can kiss my sanctuary goodbye." She let out a small laugh as she wiped away the tears and mascara.

"I won't go back to MacAdam. And I'll try not to let what he said get to me." She re-assured him.

"Good. A wise man once said 'it doesn't do to dwell in the past'."

"Was it some famous philosopher?" She smiled. He grinned.

"No, Dumbledore in Harry Potter." She laughed out loud, a knock at the door broke the moment. Strickland stood, slipping back into 'boss' mode. Sandra checked her reflection before standing and opening the door. Gerry stood on the other side, looking a bit sheepish.

"Erm, we've caught a break, and we need you to look a few things over." He looked at Sandra carefully before turning a glare on Strickland.

"I'll let you get back to work. Fill me in later." He nodded to her and left the office, as soon as the door had swung shut behind him, Gerry, Brian and Jack all gathered around her.

"Are you alright? What did that bastard say to upset you?" Gerry looked as though he was torn between staying with her and going after the boss, she smiled at him.

"He didn't say anything I didn't need to hear." She re-assured him. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." Jack added.

"No. And what's with the closed blinds." Brian asked. She sighed.

"He was warning me that MacAdam is being watched, any copper who goes to see him will be under suspicion. This is all about me being all over emotional." She indecated her ruined make-up. "He was actually really understanding." She hoped it would placate them, she didn't feel like repeating the entire coversation right now. "Now what is this break?"

"Actualy, that was just an excuse to get you out of there." Gerry admitted. She rolled her eyes.

"Make a cuppa then. Oh, and put an extra cup out in case Strickland comes back." She knew they were all staring at her.

"Have you gone barking?" Gerry stated.

"No. It's a long story, but from now on, when we make a brew, I always want a cup put ready for him, just in case." She smiled at their confusion, she heard Gerry muttering something along the lines of 'must be the fumes from the Falspars bottles'.

She glanced around her little team. This place really was a sanctuary, for all of them.

/

Author's note. This isn't my best work, but I'm suffering from a severe case of writer's block, so am going to do a few episode based short stories to try and get things going again. S


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